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The crowd's roar flooded the streets of Chicago as Darcy Zenker crossed the finish line of her first marathon, clocking in at 3:35. After she had been running for years—placing among the top finishers at four half-marathons and competing on the Southern Illinois University track team—she decided she needed a break. She then immersed herself in a new athletic pursuit—group fitness instruction.
Three years later, she became the head trainer of her own boot-camp fitness program, NowFitness, where her years of athletic training and certification in fitness instruction shine through in her workouts. In parks throughout the local area, she and her staff of fellow trainers lead groups through high-intensity workouts that take advantage of their surroundings. She motivates patrons to scale stairs, do crunches on benches, and hoist planks across grassy fields. The trainers also offer a stroller-based boot camp for moms, in which participants blast through cardio and strength-training exercises that incorporate their stroller with baby or a watermelon they've dressed up to look like a baby in tow. In addition to hosting classes, NowFitness pairs patrons with certified lifestyle and weight-management coach Amanda Bickel for a comprehensive five-week nutrition program.

The Boxing Gym's unfussy facility is abuzz with energy as patrons from all walks of life sweat their way to sculpted physiques in group fitness classes and personal-training sessions. A staff of amateur and professional boxers provides equal parts encouragement and tricks of the bag-tackling trade to help clients reach their weight-loss and fitness goals. For well-rounded fitness regimens, patrons may partake in the gym's group exercise classes, such as yoga, core-bolstering Pilates mat sessions, or Zumba dance fitness. Instructor and MMA fighter Dan Shafferkoetter helps his students hone varied martial-arts fighting skills while conditioning their bodies through jujitsu sparring, MMA training, and sandbag debating.

The certified and experienced instructors at No Excuses have one goal: to help their clients achieve more than they thought possible. To get them there, the trainers offer high-energy, focused workouts along with meal planning, grocery lists, weigh-ins, and a team-like atmosphere. Held in a no-frills indoor/outdoor gym, the Zumba, boot-camp, and Kangoo classes help participants burn fat and build muscle. No Excuses also offers nutrition counseling, meal plans, grocery lists, rule sheets, food journals, and weekly weigh-ins, and beginning early 2015, a 9-week weight loss challenge.

Jump on the treadmill or work on your weights — Florissant's MVP Fitness offers a full body workout.
While you're enjoying this gym, be sure to check out their amazing restaurant for a tasty meal.
Impress your friends and family with your kickboxing skills.
Forget the hassle of street parking and head to MVP Fitness for easy access to parking lots.

Even before he founded PowerFit Bootcamp, JR Spear always felt a calling to transform people into fitness machines. A fourth-degree black belt and studied martial artist, Spear spent years training future Marine Corps officers and Iraqi soldiers in self-defense and combat skills. Later, Spear taught his own MMA fitness and cardio-kickboxing classes, along with personal and group training sessions. At PowerFit Bootcamp, he and his staff of fitness instructors encourage each student to persevere by leading motivational and high-energy classes. At 14 indoor and outdoor locations, students undergo full-body workouts designed to jettison fat and tone muscle. Trainers welcome students of all stripes, giving them a period of time to complete each move, rather than a number of repetitions, encouraging each student to do as much as he or she can without feeling uncomfortable, overexerting, or resorting to time travel. Along the way, coaches track progress and motivate students by noting benchmarks during physical fitness tests on the first Monday and Tuesday of each month.

Even before he founded PowerFit Bootcamp, JR Spear always felt a calling to transform people into fitness machines. A fourth-degree black belt and studied martial artist, Spear spent years training future Marine Corps officers and Iraqi soldiers in self-defense and combat skills. Later, Spear taught his own MMA fitness and cardio-kickboxing classes, along with personal and group training sessions.
At PowerFit Bootcamp, he and his staff of fitness instructors encourage each student to persevere by leading motivational and high-energy classes. At 12 indoor and outdoor locations, students undergo full-body workouts designed to jettison fat and tone muscle. Trainers welcome students of all stripes, giving them a period of time to complete each move, rather than a number of repetitions, encouraging each student to do as much as he or she can without feeling uncomfortable, overexerting, or resorting to time travel. Along the way, coaches track progress and motivate students by noting benchmarks during physical fitness tests on the first Monday and Tuesday of each month.

Groupon Guide

If you’ve ever known someone in the military, you know that Basic Training—i.e. boot camp—is not something to take lightly. But how does it compare to the boot-camp fitness classes that have sprung up across the country over the last few years? We asked Chuck Dyson, a former United States Army Airborne Sergeant, to see if boot camp is still boot camp without the four-year commitment and regulation combat boots. He’d know better than anyone, as he’s currently in charge of The Sergeant’s Program, the longest-running military-style boot camp in the country. Dyson filled us in on what beginners need to know to be successful in his program—and how, exactly, his program compares to the real thing.Boot Camps Aren’t Just for Super SoldiersJoining the military doesn’t automatically make you a prime physical specimen. Whereas one recruit might have been quarterback of his high-school football team, another might be completely out of shape. It’s for this reason that boot camp is designed to help people in any shape get fitter and stronger in preparation for duty. According to Dyson, boot-camp fitness classes are no different. “Some come in conditioned, and some may come in deconditioned,” he says of his students. “The program is set up so that we can work with any level of physical fitness.”There’s Not as Much Yelling as You Think“One of the things we learned early on is that you can’t do a whole lot of yelling with new people,” Dyson says with a laugh. “We make it fun. We don’t yell and scream or get in people’s faces and embarrass them … but we’re still going to push them.” But how? Well, The Sergeant’s Program challenges students by instilling a sense of accountability and reminding them that they’ll only get what they put in. “As instructors, [we] want to be accountable to you,” Dyson explains, “but we want you to be accountable to the program, as well.” As in the actual military, camaraderie is key, and students often push each other to go that extra mile.It May Not Be the Military, But It Can Sure Feel Like It“A regular [military] boot camp is an all-day event,” Dyson says. “Early in the morning till late at night.” These kinds of hours are obviously impossible for a civilian to keep, but boot-camp fitness classes still try to maintain the essence of the military’s grueling sessions. That’s why many programs schedule classes in the wee hours of the morning, forcing people—or giving them “the opportunity,” as Dyson puts it—to get up early and get their workout in. Many of the classes also involve workouts identical to the military’s, including fundamentals such as running, pushups, bench dips, and pull-ups. The good news? They also incorporate new exercises to keep things interesting. “Just the other night,” Dyson recalls, “I took my class into the woods and had them jumping over creeks.” The bottom line? Fitness boot camps may be punishing workouts, but the good ones are always fun enough to keep students from going AWOL.